CBD flower strains

One of the many CBD flower strains we’re excited about is called Birthday Cake CBD. The Birthday Cake strain is a perfect example of the ingenuity of cross-breeding and pollinating cannabis plants. Now that hemp and cannabis growing and dispensing is decriminalized federally and legal in most states, growers have the leverage and resources to harvest specific strains of CBD flower.

As we have discussed extensively in previous blog posts, the popularity of CBD flowers and other CBD products has skyrocketed in recent years. New medical studies continue to confirm that this powerful cannabinoid has the potential to relieve the pain of various physiological ailments including chronic pain, depression, anxiety, and dozens of others.

Millions of hemp users have experienced this power firsthand. It’s not like dispensary store customers are sitting at home reading clinical studies about the effects of CBD and then deciding to go out and purchase. They’re trying it out for themselves and operating off of that visceral experience.

And for the vast majority of frequent users, the evidence is strong and the conclusion is undeniable: CBD flower strains like Birthday Cake CBD and others have a pronounced effect on their bodies and minds that is substantially different and qualitatively better than high-THC strains.

CBD and other cannabinoids are already a part of the vanguard of a new natural healthcare movement that is slowly sweeping across the country. The idea is simple: you can treat and sometimes cure pain without painkillers, and you can treat and sometimes cure anxiety without drugs and alcohol. While some may argue that CBD is still a drug despite its non-intoxicating effects, its likely safer and healthier for intermediate pain than the vast majority of prescriptions and recreational substances.

But how do cannabis growers cultivate such rich ratios of high-CBD flowers?

The Strange Art/Magic/Science of Crossbreeding For CBD Flower

If you’ve spent any significant amount of time consuming marijuana, you know that different strains of cannabis can have dramatically different effects on the user. This includes psychological effects, as some strains might make you incredibly energetic, conversational or happy while other strains make you tired, withdrawn, and sometimes even anxious.

You’re probably familiar with the indica versus sativa debate but the truth is that individual strains within those categories have distinctive characteristics, such as different tastes and smells.

Cannabis breeders are the mad scientists that experiment with crossbreeding different plants to achieve specific trait profiles. In a process that can take years, breeders choose “parent” strains to cross-breed and then sometimes back-cross them to stabilize a new phenotype. The goal is to end up with a strain that has certain desirable traits and no bad traits.

This is even more complicated with marijuana plants than with your average garden food crops. These food crops are usually “monoecious,” signifying the individual plants have male and female organs.

Conversely, cannabis plants are considered “dioecious” and do not each contain male and female parts. Rather, each plant is either male or female. The female plant grows the cannabinoid buds and is pollinated by the male plant to produce seeds. This kind of cross-pollination produces a much greater and more diverse genetic pool from which growers can cross-breed.

While beneficial to the aim of breeding for specific traits – such as high-CBD content – this form of harvesting is also more time-consuming and difficult. But ultimately, it allows for breeders to carefully select and pursue the kinds of buds they want, such as the inverted THC: CBD ratio in Birthday Cake CBD. The typical Birthday Cake strain is about 20%+ THC and less than 1% CBD. After scrupulous cross-breeding, however, those percentages are effectively flip-flopped and a reliably medicinal CBD flower is born.

Growers like the Crawford brothers in Oregon demonstrate the devotion and discipline that comes with breeding for high-CBD flower buds.

“Good breeding is no secret, it’s just a lot of hard work and it takes years of research and development to accomplish,” Seth Crawford stated in a recent interview about the recent surge in CBD popularity.

His brother added: “Good breeders are not people who just take two plants they like and cross them to get some ‘good stuff.’ Good breeders are people who take the time and make a plan, they create specific inbred lines to reach a target. But overall, it’s not rocket science.”

While it may not be rocket science, the methodology behind breeding is certainly not simple. Breeders must have a knack for registering and analyzing multiple types of traits all at once. Factors include:

• Shape of the leaves
• Calyx size
• The morphology and growing conditions
• Color
• Cannabinoid amount
• Cannabinoid profile
• Flavor and aroma
• Aroma and cannabinoid stability
• Trichome typology
• Resin quantity and quality
• Resin persistence
• Drying and curing times

Breeders must, of course, also prioritize the development of productive strains that can continually perform on the market. Additionally, potency is a major factor and here growers have seen a sea change when it comes to the demand for CBD-rich strains over THC-rich strains.

Birthday Cake CBD is thus an illustrative case study in the art/magic/science of cross-breeding cannabis plants, as well as a marker of how the cannabis growing market now favors CBD flowers.

Birthday Cake CBD taste profile and effects

Our Birthday Cake CBD flower packs a powerful punch. Taste-wise, the hybrid strain carries a vanilla and nut flavor due to its unusual balance of terpenes and cannabinoids. This dynamic results from the cross-breeding of GSC and Cherry Pie strains, whose colorful genes and trichomes give Birthday Cake CBD a festive and ceremonial appearance. It’s been described as a strain that looks like a birthday present, which is presumably how the name arose.

However, as mentioned above, unlike many varieties of the Birthday Cake strain, ours is primarily a CBD flower that has been carefully bred to have a full-spectrum array of compounds without a predominance of THC. Full-spectrum means that while Birthday Cake CBD has higher amounts of CBD, especially when compared to its THC content, it also contains smaller but significant amounts of other cannabinoids and still more trace amounts of other compounds.

There are 113 known cannabinoids – of which THC, CBD, and CBN rank as the most popular – but only one cannabinoid is considered the “stem cell,” the progenitor of them all. That would be CBG, or cannabigerol, which for years lay largely unrecognized for its significant role in the early development of cannabis plants. Now scientists and breeders know that not only is CBG critical to marijuana flowers in the early growing phase, it eventually morphs into other cannabinoids during the mature phase.

Like CBD and CBN, CBG is non-psychoactive but many growers and users say that it brings a powerful feeling of psychological wellness and may help with physical ailments like chronic pain, appetite loss, inflammation, and headaches. Studies were done on CBG also demonstrate the potential for slowing the growth of cancer cells, decreasing the discomfort of glaucoma, and treating inflammatory bowel conditions and Crohn’s disease, although more research is still needed to make any conclusive claims. 

The aforementioned Crawford brothers have built an entire business model around CBD but believe that CBG will be the next big craze in cannabis. Full-spectrum blends like Birthday Cake CBD allow one to experience the collective effort of CBD, CBG, and other cannabinoids.

For more info about the potential of CBG, click here to read our blog post.

CBD Flower and Indoor Hemp Flower for sale

Higher Hemp has a variety of CBD flower recommendations for your pandemic bug-out bag, including the staff favorite, Grand Daddy Purple CBD flower, which has 22.8% CBD content. Our indoor hemp flower for sale on our website comes to us from the most responsible, scientifically advanced growers in the industry, who take pride in cross-breeding hybrid CBD flower strains that help people manage pain and anxiety.

Birthday Cake CBD is a great example of our organically grown, top-shelf, indoor CBD flower selection, which contains up to 25% CBD by weight and less than 0.3% THC.

In addition to the myriad strains of lab-tested and certified CBD flowers, we also offer CBD oil, CBD joints and blunts, CBD cartridges, CBD concentrates, CBD topicals, and even CBD for pets. Click here to read our post about the benefits of CBD for pets.

As always, remember that all our products are packaged with eco-friendly and sustainable hemp material and biodegradable bioplastic.

Also remember that we offer free same-day delivery in San Diego County and 2-day priority shipping nationwide.